To celebrate Star Wars day, the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square recently released a recording of “Duel of the Fates” — epic music that debuted during the final lightsaber battle in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”
The choir’s rendition of the John Williams piece is currently available for streaming on Spotify. It’s also part of a five-track EP the choir will release May 22, according to a news release.
The rest of the songs on the album are:
- “Main on End” — a song that is played during the “Avengers: Endgame” closing credits. The film reached its one-year anniversary last month.
- The classic gospel song “I’ll Fly Away” from “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
- “When You Believe” from “The Prince of Egypt”
- “Eatnemen Vuelie (Song of the Earth)” — traditional Nordic music that inspired the opening song of the Disney movie “Frozen.” The piece was a part of the choir’s Pioneer Day concert last year featuring guest artist Sissel.
“The choir and orchestra have a longstanding tradition of performing inspirational music from the Broadway stage and the movies,” Mack Wilberg, the choir’s music director, said in a statement. “We hope to showcase the power of this music to inspire and to encourage us. The title ‘When You Believe’ captures that concept of building faith and shows why it was fitting for the choir and orchestra to record this music. This music can touch our souls in a very unique way.”
“When You Believe: A Night at the Movies” marks the first album to feature the choir’s new logo — a symbol that includes the name of the choir and seven gold-colored organ pipes representing the famed organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Deseret News previously reported.
The album will be available for streaming, download and physical purchase beginning May 22 on Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes.
The album’s release comes as the coronavirus pandemic has halted the choir’s usual activities. The 360 singers have not attended weekly practices or sung for its longrunning weekly broadcast “Music and the Spoken Word,” according to the Deseret News.
A week ago, the choir also postponed its summer 2020 tour — scheduled for June 25-July 16 — to 2021, according to the Deseret News.
